Archer Review: Different Modes of Preparing The Fruit (Season 9 Episode 3)

On Archer Season 9 Episode 3, “Different Modes of Preparing The Fruit” Archer and Pam create their own get-rich-quick scheme by stealing Fuch’s get-rich-quick plan to nab an idol worth 1,000,000 marks (German currency).

It’s easy to see why this idol is worth surviving the hell-hole that is Danger Island, seeing as this idol is worth $361,000 of its weight in gold. Whoever steals this would get rich very quickly indeed.

However, we all know they aren’t going to see a dime of that money or be able to keep an inch of that idol by the end of this season. We’re just along for the ride to see all the embarrassing, hilarious, and ironic situations Fuchs, Lana, Pam, and Archer will get into before the idol falls into a vat of lava or something.

With that said, “Different Modes of Preparing The Fruit” is one of the best episodes of Archer since season 7 episodes 5 and 6, Bel Panto: Parts I and II, where the clowns hold everyone hostage to steal the emerald necklace.

Unlike Bel Panto, this episode of Archer doesn’t land at the top because of its action scenes or its hilarious jokes and dramatic irony (even though it has some of that too), it’s one of the the best episodes in about one and a half seasons because it finally fleshes out Cyril and Archer’s relationship as character foils.

No, I don’t mean their relationship has qualities of aluminum food savers; I mean the literary term of a foil, which is a character who contrasts with another character to highlight specific personality traits or qualities.

The English nerd in me is squealing with delight.

Cyril and Archer have always been foils of one another, and it’s been referenced countless times in the narrative. Nevertheless, it hasn’t been truly put on display like this since Archer Season 5 Episode 12, Archer Vice: Filibuster.

Cyril is the prime example of the saying that you don’t really know someone until you’ve given them power or have seen them at their worst.

Cyril initially seems like the better, safer choice over Archer because he seems like the shy, wholesome type, while Archer seems like the selfish asshole that thrives in debauchery. However, we start to see the nuance in Cyril and Archer’s characterizations whenever they get power or things don’t go their way.

In season 4, even though Cyril knew Lana was pregnant, he would’ve let her die because he was upset she didn’t choose him to be the father. He also once told her that her child is doomed to be murdered in the streets of the ghetto because they were black. It’s important to note that at the time they all thought Lana’s baby daddy was a black man.

While, on the flip side, Archer literally died for Lana in season 4 because he loves her and because he’s a decent human being who didn’t want a pregnant woman to lose her child.

Additionally, in season 5, Archer trained himself to be a doula so that he could help Lana give birth to her child after reading the statistics on childbirth and even offered to help Lana raise the baby due to the hardships of single motherhood.

We also see this foil dynamic in the Archer Vice episode, Filibuster, when Cyril gets temporary power as the president of San Marcos and, with this new power, forces a woman to marry him against her will and locks up everyone who annoys him.

Archer Season 9 Episode 3, shows the true side of Cyril (or at the very least, in this season, Fuchs) and what a horrible person he is under the facade of politeness. Fuchs clearly lies to Lana about protecting her people against the French, and he tries to rape Cheryl.

Now, do I think our regular ISIS Cyril is capable of rape? Maybe not. However, as I explain in my review of Archer Season 9 Episode 1, this season’s characterizations focus on emphasizing certain qualities of our regular OG crew in this new world of Danger Island.

And, in Fuch’s case, it emphasizes the disturbingly horrible, heartless parts of Cyril that we’ve only seen glimpses of before. Who knows, maybe Cyril would be capable of this kind of debauchery if he had the power to do so.

We’ve seen Archer with a lot of power in multiple situations and the most he does with it is get laid and create lacrosse tournaments.

Although Archer hasn’t done much of that this season, we’ve seen him act heroically by letting everyone jump out of the plane when they all thought they were going to die in a burning crash.

Moreover, he tries to send some new business to his mother’s start-up brothel, even though it turned out to be bad business. But most of all, he hasn’t tried to rape anyone.

By that fact alone, he’s 10x the man Fuchs is and, if anyone deserves that idol and a gorgeous princess for a bed partner out of the two of them, it’s Archer.

So, here’s to rooting for a Lana and Archer relationship endgame, and here’s to hoping, against all logical odds, that Archer and Pam do end up with the idol and all the money that comes with it.

What did you think of Archer Season 9 Episode 13? Were you just as appalled by Fuchs as I was? Did you also notice how Cyril is the foil of Archer in every Archer adaptation? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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Archer airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on FXX.

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